Locals have spoken out against plans to build 150 holiday caravans on a North Devon site, saying the application would triple the size of the village and that residents feel “attacked”.

The application (63345) has been submitted to North Devon Council for development of the site at Tarka Holiday Park, Braunton Road, Barnstaple. It is currently in the consultation period which will end on Friday, September 8.

The applicant proposes to extend the existing holiday park (Tarka Holiday Park) onto adjoining land, formerly in use as a nurse for pick-your-own fruit, to provide for up to 150 modern holiday caravans and new amenity facilities.

A consultation drop-in session took place on June 5 at Ashford Church Hall, coordinated by Snapdragon Consulting on behalf of applicant Park Holidays UK ltd, which approximated 80 residents attended. This was followed by an Ashford Residents Meeting on June 7.

Dale Hall, local resident, produced a report of his thoughts concerning this consultation for the Ashford Action Committee, who are opposed to this development. The charity Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Devon are also said to be planning to object to this application because of the “huge scale of it in the countryside and all the associated impacts from such a large development”.

Mr Hall interviewed residents leaving both the drop-in session and the residents meeting and recorded their thoughts and feelings about the plan and the consultation, which he then included in his report.

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He said: “Responses included: ‘We’re being stitched up. It feels like we’re being attacked’; ‘It’s totally too big It would be three times the size of Ashford!; and ‘This would have a terrible impact on the village’. After two hours of discussion, the residents voted overwhelmingly against the proposed development. No one supported the application; three neither supported nor opposed it; but 38 strongly opposed it (with one ‘don’t know’).

“Some of the main issues cited were that: Ashford is a small rural community within a beautiful landscape and the proposed expansion of the Holiday Park would blight this permanently, not only for residents but for the wider public too. In the opinion of Ashford residents, the consultation conducted by Snapdragon for Park Holidays UK Ltd was superficial and uninformative; and it failed seriously to seek ways in which the adverse impact of the proposed development could be mitigated. It did not seem, they said, to be interested in any systematic way in residents’ current and potential concerns.

Ashford site plan

“The proposed expansion of the current caravan site is categorically opposed by the great majority of Ashford residents, for a wide range of specific reasons. Above all, the residents believe that in relation to the conservation area of Ashford the development is fundamentally inappropriate, unduly intrusive, and harmful to the rural community’s amenity, quality of life and environment.”

Due to the scale of the opposition and the commercial interests involved, the residents felt the application should be considered by the full North Devon Council Planning Committee. Currently it is listed as a delegated decision.

Enzygo Limited prepared a Design and Access Statement on behalf of applicant Park Holidays UK ltd to accompany the application. The plans include the demolition of existing buildings and structures and use of land for the stationing of static holiday caravans with a recreation area, construction of a new clubhouse, reception, laundrette, catering kitchen, swimming pool, entertainments room, amusement arcade, shop, children’s play area, and associated works.

The polytunnels and other buildings currently on the application site will be removed. The entrance itself is to be readjusted, with improved sight-lines to enhance safety, and including defined bus stop arrangements, together with public footway/cycleway and crossing points linking with existing public footpaths to afford better access to the bus stop opposite the park and the Tarka Trail.

Improvements are also proposed to the existing public footpath access with Ashford. A recreation area at the northern end of the park will be made available to the public.

The statement says: “The proposals at Tarka Holiday Park will not be of detriment to the local highway network and will provide significant improvements in respect to safety at the site access on the A361 Braunton Road. The proposals will improve connectivity and sustainability from Tarka Holiday Park.”